Impact of the Economic Crisis in Construction: A Perspective from Graduate Students

Abstract

[EN] The current economic crisis has affected the Spanish construction industry causing the loss of 1.2 million jobs in the last four years. This paper seeks to analyze the impact of this crisis in construction from the point of view of the students of a M.Sc. in Construction Management, investigating the evolution of student's perception on unemployment and their motivations to enroll in the master degree. For this purpose, a questionnaire was handed out to students of three consecutive classes of the M.Sc. in Construction Management at the Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain). A statistical analysis of the survey was developed. This way, some interesting points can be highlighted on the impact of crisis on young construction professionals.